


Day Two: Great Dyanmics/"I'll be by your side"

by firstdegreefangirl



Series: 9-1-1 Lonestar Week 2020 [2]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, But he's trying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Judd and Grace take care of him, Panic Attacks, TK has a lot of thoughts, and he doesn't know where to go with them, or how to talk about them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:54:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24016273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstdegreefangirl/pseuds/firstdegreefangirl
Summary: TK shows up on Grace and Judd's doorstep with a lot of feelings he doesn't know how to talk about.
Relationships: Grace Ryder & TK Strand (9-1-1 Lone Star), Grace Ryder/Judd Ryder (9-1-1 Lone Star), Judd Ryder & TK Strand
Series: 9-1-1 Lonestar Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1732267
Comments: 8
Kudos: 140





	Day Two: Great Dyanmics/"I'll be by your side"

**Author's Note:**

> There's more to this story sitting in my Lonestar chest, but I couldn't let go of this idea for today's prompt, so we'll call this a promo passage for something that will come ... someday in the future? It works as a standalone too, but I'm excited to flesh it out beyond this.

TK’s knuckles are starting to go sore, but he keeps rapping at the door. He can hear movement inside, can tell someone is coming to let him in, but he can't bring himself to stand still, and knocking gives him something to do. 

Then the door swings open and he has to pull his arm back quickly before he hits Grace. 

“TK? Did we know you were dropping by?” Grace smiles at him, but he can see the confusion on her face. 

“No. Um, n-no. I’m not … I wasn’t … is Judd home?” He wrings his hands together, shifting his weight between his feet. 

“Yeah, he fell asleep on the couch, but I was about to wake him up anyway. He doesn’t need to be down here all night, and I don’t need to hear him whine about it in the morning.” Grace steps back to let him in and grabs a throw pillow to toss at her husband. 

It bounces off of his chest, but he stirs anyway. 

“Gracie? What’s that for?” 

“TK stopped by to see us, sweetheart. Sit up and say hello.” 

“TK? TK Strand?” 

“The one and only. I’m gonna go fix something for him to eat. You boys play nice, OK?” 

“Oh, you-you don’t have to go to any trouble. Actually, I, uh, I can leave. TK starts stammering and backing toward the door. “I’ll just … find a 24-hour diner or something.” 

“Best 24-hour diner in Austin is my kitchen, honey.” Grace leans in from the other room. “Just hang tight, I’ll have something up in a minute.” 

TK nods at her and takes a seat on the opposite corner of the couch from Judd, picking up the throw pillow and holding it in his lap to play with the tassels on the corners. 

“What’s goin’ on?” It’s a friendly question, small talk as Judd shakes off the last of his sleep, but TK doesn’t have a good answer for him. So he stares at the pillow in his lap and shrugs with one shoulder. 

“Dad’s at work.” 

At that, Judd sits up a little straighter. Captains get called in, it happens, and he knows that. But TK’s clearly freaked out about something and he can’t help but wonder if the two things are somehow related. 

“What’s going on?” It’s less casual this time. 

“My dad’s at work.” TK repeats himself, but doesn’t elaborate, and Judd feels his shoulders go stiff. 

“Did something happen? Is he OK? TK. What’s. Going. On?” Every word is its own sentence this time, and the longer TK goes without answering, the more worried Judd becomes. 

“Nothing.” TK finally looks up at him, and the look on his face is one Judd would recognize anywhere. He looks lost and terrified, wound so tight that he might explode if Judd looks at him too long. 

Judd’s been there. He doesn’t know for sure what’s going on in TK’s head, but there’s a good chance that TK doesn’t know either. _Brains are funny like that_ , Grace had told him one time, stroking his hair while he cried for a reason he couldn’t find words for, _they like to keep secrets from us sometimes_. 

“It’s pretty clearly not ‘nothing,’” Judd replies, trying to keep his voice low and even, hoping Grace will be back soon with something for TK to eat, if only because she’s so much better at feelings-talk than he is. “But if you can't talk about it, that’s cool, too.” 

TK pushes the pillow aside and stands up. 

“You know what? It’s fine. Really, it’s … I’m fine. It’s not that big a deal. I’ll get out of your hair, go for a run or something, burn off some energy. I … I shouldn’t have woken you up.” He’s twitching his fingers, rolling his shoulders, trying to keep himself pulled together, and Judd recognizes that too. But before he can say anything, Grace reappears in the kitchen doorway, holding a spatula. 

“You didn’t wake me up, TK.” He looks at his wife. “Grace did.” 

“TK, I know you’re not trying to leave after I already started up the stove. And I told you, I was gonna wake Judd up anyway.” She turns and points the spatula toward Judd. “You don’t need to be sleeping on the sofa when you’ve got a perfectly good side of the bed upstairs. Besides, TK looked hungry out there on the doorstep. You two want some lemonade or something while you wait? Grilled cheese and soup’ll be done in just a couple of minutes.” 

“You made lemonade this afternoon and didn’t say nothin’ about it until just now?” Judd rolls his eyes playfully but beams at Grace. “Yes ma’am we’ll take a couple of glasses.” As soon as she’s turned around, Judd looks back at TK. “Sit down. You don’t gotta talk, but Gracie makes the best lemonade.” 

TK obeys, pulling the pillow back into his lap and staring over Judd’s shoulder. 

“Do … do I really look hungry?” 

OK, if this is what he wants to talk about, Judd will play along. 

“She thinks everybody looks hungry. It’s how her momma raised her. Granted, once you taste her cooking, she’s usually right about it.” Judd chuckles and finds his efforts rewarded when TK forces a small smile. 

“Yeah …" 

“Seriously you don’t have to tell us until you’re ready, but whatever’s going on, we’re here for you, brother. Right by your side.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you've had as much fun reading this one as I did writing it and thinking about what'll come next! Let me know what you think!  
> xoxo


End file.
